The entire
base was a census-designated
place at the 2000
census, although statistical data have since included the
portion in totals for Montgomery County for the city of Riverside. As of the 2000 census, the base had a
resident population of 6,656. The permanent party work force at
WPAFB as of September 30, 2005, numbered 5,517 military and 8,102
civilian.

There were 1,754 households out of which 78.1% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 89.0% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 2.8% were non-families.
2.6% of all households were made up of individuals and none had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 3.60 and the average family size was 3.64.

On the base the population was spread out with 42.5% under the age
of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 41.5% from 25 to 44, 4.2% from 45 to
64, and 0.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
23 years. For every 100 females there were 105.2 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.1 males.

The median income for a household on the base was $43,342, and the
median income for a family was $43,092. Males had a median income
of $30,888 versus $21,044 for females. The per capita income for the base was
$15,341. About 1.6% of families and 1.8% of the population were
below the poverty line, including 2.4%
of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

As of September 30, 2005, Wright-Patterson had base housing
amounting to 2,012 single-family units, 300 units for unaccompanied
enlisted personnel, and 455 visitor or temporary living
units.

History

Wishing to
recognize the contributions of the Patterson family (owners of
National Cash Register) the
area of Wright
Field east of Huffman Dam
(including Wilbur Wright Field, Fairfield Air Depot, and the Huffman Prairie) was renamed Patterson Field on July 6, 1931, in
honor of Lt. Frank Stuart Patterson, who was killed in 1918
during a flight test of a new mechanism for synchronizing machine
gun and propeller, when a tie rod broke during a dive from ,
causing the wings to separate from the aircraft.

In 1948,
the nearby Wright
Field and Patterson Field were merged under the name
Wright-Patterson AFB. The former Wright Field became Area B
of the combined installation, and the former Patterson Field became
Area C. In 1951, the Air Force created a separate command for
research and development called the Air Research and Development
Command. The Wright Air Development Center was responsible for
principal elements of flight testing, engineering and laboratories.
Some of the test pilots working at the base, such as Neil Armstrong and Ed White, went on to become NASA
astronauts.

Today, as in the early 1900s, Wright-Patterson is where weapons
systems are tested and modified. Missions range from logistics management, research and development,
education, flight operations, and many other defense related
activities. Wright-Patterson AFB is the home to the
Air Force
Institute of Technology, an educational institution that supports the Air
Force and the Department of Defense. It also contains the
USAF's high-security National Air & Space Intelligence Center,
where in the cold-war era captured Soviet MIGs were brought to what
was then known as the Foreign Technology Division for disassembly
and testing. Wright Field is also home to a zero-time nuclear
reactor, built during the Cold War, but never taken critical.

Project Blue Book and Hangar 18

Wright-Patterson AFB is known among those involved with UFO conspiracy theories as the home
of Project Blue Book and because
of its connection with the Roswell
UFO incident of July 1947. Some believe that Hangar 18, assigned to the
Air Force's Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson, along
with the Area
51 installation in Nevada, contains, or once
contained, wreckage of a crashed UFO.